A great weekend for Jiu jitsu in the mma arena!

Wow! What a great week-end for Jiu jitsu in the MMA arena! Lots of great submissions by some of the top BJJ fighters around the world. It seems in recent times there as been a bit of a return towards the striking elements to please the crowds and referees are standing the fighters up quicker than ever! But like anything in life if you are not evolving, growing and moving forwards then you are dieing and the modern Jiu jitsu gladiators have evolved!

Firstly in UFC 107, Brazilian Top Team (BTT) sensation Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares put on a clinic of powerful wrestling and slick submission skills against Alliance black belt Lucio Linhares. “Toquinho” as he is commonly known is an absolute beast on the mat, powerful, compact and explosive with lethal submissions. Lucio was coming in off a five fight winning streak, none of which have gone the distance! This was a fantastic match up of two slick Jiu jitsu black belts with Lucio sweeping Toquinho (in the first round) with a beautiful half guard sweep but being reversed again instantly by Toquinho. Toquinho mixed up his attack nicely by landing a right hand on his feet, transitioning into a single leg then rolling back and underneath for a leg attack! Toquinho looking for a couple more leg attacks near the end of the round and coming close! Toquinho started the second round with a flying knee which Lucio caught and took him down with showing good balance and control from the top until Toquinho managed to sweep only to land in a tight triangle from Lucio. Palhares escaped with Lucio on top showing solid position and passing into mount! Toquinho escaped and reversed to top position before passing himself! After being restarted Toquinho looked for a takedown with Lucio going for a flying omoplata!!! Toquinho escaped and countered with a heel hook to finish Lucio! Great fight!!!

In other great matches from UFC 107 Kenny “Kenflo” Florian used strikes and takedowns effectively to confuse and off-balance the ever tough Clay “Carpenter” Guida before dropping him with a stiff right hand in the second round. Kenny then took Clay’s back and locked in the rear naked choke for the finish making this his 8th submission victory in professional mma fights! Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir impressed all with a dominating performance over rising star Cheick Kongo. Frank floored Kongo with a vicious left hook before locking in the guillotine putting Kongo to sleep just over a minute into the fight! Awesome!

Meanwhile over in Brazil, former Pride superstar Paulo Filho put on a dominating performance against Tatsuhiko Nishizaka in Bitteti Combat 5. Enjoy the fight below and feel free to comment on the fight or post in general!

Without a doubt mate! Both Kenny and Frank showed much improved striking and movement skills on their feet which allowed them bith to set up and finish their opponents with submissions! Although Paulo Filho and Toquinho’s victories both had mre to do with them being beasts with powerful, explosive Jiu jitsu and takedown games! A lot of the top grapplers would benefit tremendousl if they learnt how to apply their boxing for mma rather than just try and mix it up as the timing, range and defense is quite different in the cage!
Kind Regards
Felipe